The Lantern
by UpNorther
Summary: "I will escape your grasp and free myself from this darkness! And when I do, I WILL save Julia!" "You awful, awful fool... Don't you realize that it was her that put you in here? Even if you escape the Realm, my Darkness will always be a part of you forever! She has already fallen." "The time in here gave me tons of time to think since however many years ago! I'll find a way!"
1. Chapter 1: Notes Under Beds

"Oh, man! do we really have to go, mom? I hate camping! I'm sure Darwin would agree with me, right buddy?" Gumball said. "Right?" "I don't know. I kinda agree with Mrs. Mom. I think we should enjoy nature while were still young, so our own kids think it's such a boring thing like you do," the orange fish named Darwin said like it really mattered to him. "plus just think of all the things you could do in the forest! Play hide and seek, family cookouts, swimming and fi-" He cut himself off right there very well knowing what he ALMOST said, as did everyone else.

"Plus, I think it would be a good time to get to know some of your friends! oh, it should be so much fun!" gumball's mother Nicole said with more enthusiasm than she really should have. "Wait... WHAT?! Oh, great... now my friends will know just how 'great' my mom is." gumball sarcastically stated. His mother gave him a harsh glare. "Be happy I hear only your words and not that snarky tone of yours." she said walking out the front door. Darwin stood next to gumball and whispered something in his ear. "I'm pretty sure that ship sailed a while ago." "I heard that!" she yelled from outside as she got in the car for work. "Plus, I already invited them!"

"who all did she invite anyway?" Gumball inquired, although he was almost certain Darwin had just as good a guess as himself. Darwin just shrugged and sat down on the couch to watch some television. "I'm gonna get to the bottom of this, Darwin! And I think you should help." "I don't know, don't you think she didn't tell us because she wanted to surprise us. Seems like something she might do." Darwin said as he proceeded to press the power button on his remote.

"Fine, I'll do this detective work all on my own." gumball muttered while he walked up the stairs. "Detective. Pft." Darwin muttered under his breath.  
Gumball climbed the stairs and entered his parents' room. he checked the room for all signs of invitation, but found none, until he looked under the bed and noticed a note written in blue ink scrawled over the paper reading "Camping invites" on the front.  
"Yes! Score!" he whispered excitedly as he picked up the note and flipped it over.

The note said:  
_Dear Gumball,_

_I knew you would try to find out who would be on this trip. If I didn't say it before, I'll say it now._  
_You don't need to know who goes on this trip until it's time. Just be as patient as possible._

_P.S. I told your friends not to tell you either! I guess it just has to be a surprise!_

"Grr... Dang it, mom." he mumbles angrily.  
A disgruntled Gumball Watterson stomped his way down the stairs and into the living room, plopping himself on the couch. Darwin waited for a little while before asking, "OK, fine. Did you find anything? I was hoping you would tell me when you got down here."

"No, Darwin, I didn't find anything," Gumball said pouting. "Just a stupid note with nothing on it." Gumball pulled out the note and shows it to Darwin and he takes a look. "Hmm. Yep, nothing to go on here. Just have to wait." he said dryly.  
"Wow, Darwin! I din't expect you to give up so easily on this!" Gumball got close to inspect his face, fins, and eyes. "Are you alright, Darwin? Because I can't tell. You would usually have SOMETHING, reasonable or crazy!" He said.

Darwin just sighed and said, "It would be against Mrs. Mom's wish. Plus, don't you think it would be cool to have a surprise in your life? Not always know what's around the corner, Gumball?" This just made him more agitated. He got up without saying a word and walked into the kitchen with his hands behind his back, turned back at Darwin and said

"Well," "Well, what?" Darwin interjected. "Well, Darwin... What do we do now?"  
"Well, I don't know-Oh, Let's go to the park! it's always fun at the park, Gumball!" Darwin stated.  
"Or we could stay home, play some video games. We can go to the park after I beat you in every game!"

**Thirty minutes later...**

Gumball sat still, awestruck at how he had managed to lose in EVERY game while Darin danced around cheering.  
"Alright, Gumball. We agreed that we could go after we played!" Gumball's face turned sour and he said "NO, we agreed that we would leave after I beat you in every game! I DEMAND a rematch!" Darwin froze and fell to his knees to grab the controller again. "Fine." He said quietly as he pressed the start button for player 2.

**That's all I've got for this chapter! Tune in next time when we continue!  
Tell me what you think, why don't ya? I really appreciate the feedback!**


	2. Chapter 2: Over the Banister

**Chapter 2: Waiting... and Waiting...**

**The Next Morning, 7:45 am...**

"Re...match..." Gumball mumbled as he tried to stay awake from losing to Darwin all night long. Neither of them went to bed the previous night. "Gumball," Darwin started, "We need to get some... uh... Sleep. That's it. We have to get up for school tomorrow." His eyes had bags under them, in fact, his bags had bags under them. Gumball looked to the window, which had thin beams of light coming from the slits between the shades. "Dude, I think it is tomorrow." Gumball said as they continued their montage of fighting matches. By now, they were way past the point that any type of language would be heard as gibberish.  
Nicole walked down the steps in a bath robe and mug of coffee. When she noticed the two still playing video games, she set the mug down to rub both of her eyes, believing she was hallucinating from her own minor lack of sleep. When she came to her senses(Almost immediately,) her face turned_ sour._ "WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING AWAKE!?" She yelled, "Didn't I tell you to go to bed right after dinner-" She paused and took a peek in to the kitchen to see their plates from the previous night still there, fully packed, and cold as ice.

Nicole just stood there and sighed, "You didn't even eat last night, did you? You know, this is why I decided to take this trip!" she walked over by the television and unplugged the console from the wall, and although it took several moments for them to make sense of the situation like a buffering video, Gumball said, "Mom! Why'd you do that? We were deciding if we were to go to the park or not." "Actually, we were going to go, but gumball decided to play a few games before we went. suppose it got a bit out of hand." Darwin interjected.  
She stood there, deciding her next move. "Oh, I guess I can't stay mad at you forever, but you two really need to put down the controller. Now you go get some sleep, we leave tonight at eight." "Where?" said Gumball  
Nicole's hand made immediate swift contact with her face. "Go get some sleep, alright, boys?" she asked as she started into the kitchen for more coffee.  
As Gumball and Darwin attempted to lift themselves of the floor in front of the television, _their _faces made swift contact with the floor as they crashed asleep. Until Gumball woke up seconds later, that is, when he shouted "Wait! What about school?!" "School on a Saturday, Gumball?" He didn't even reply, just slamming his face on the carpet drifting off again.

**7:30 P.M. **

Gumball awoke to find that he was in his bed and Darwin in his bowl. '_She must have carried us upstairs' _he thought.  
He climbed out of his bed , still felling deprived of some sleep and made it half way to the door before he realized something. "Oh, no," He started "Darwin! Get up!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. Darwin literally blasted out if his bowl and smacked against the ceiling.  
"What? What is it?" he asked when he hit the floor. "We've only got thirty minutes to do EVERYTHING!" Darwin stood there silent and confused wondering what was going on. "The camping trip, Darwin" Gumball continued.  
"But I thought you hated camping" stated Darwin. Gumball took a quick glance at him before saying, "I'm not worried about the camping trip, Darwin! If we're not ready by eight..." "Oh, right. mom might get angry and we both know how that COULD end. But I think you're being a bit dramatic, Gumball." Gumball let out a brief sigh "I guess you're right... I'm gonna have a quick look downstairs."  
He took a few silent steps down the staircase. He could just make out the sunset through the window before he turned his head- "Dude, Get back over here!" Darwin silently shouted as he yanked him back from the staircase. "What?" Gumball whispered trying to peer back over the banister, even though Darwin held him back. "We don't need to waste time here, We may as well get ready while we still can. We've only got, what? twenty-six minuted left before Mrs. Mom calls us down anyway?"  
"I guess you're right," He sighed, "You go on ahead, I'm gonna just take a quick peek."

**Who do you guys think this should go on? Should I keep with the third-person? Should I make the story move a bit quicker? And furthermore, who do you think should go on this camping trip? Some character are kind of... pre-determined. Just tell me what you think in a review! I'll be sure to take a look at it. Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3: Sandwiches

**Chapter 3: "Oh, It's You."**

**7:38 P.M.**

Gumball and Darwin crossed paths in the corridor to their room as Gumball paced back and fourth and Darwin walked out of a steaming bathroom with a towel bound about his waist. Darwin stopped to face gumball as he paces by back towards the bedroom and notices the worry in his face. "Gumball," he started "Huh? Oh, you're done already?" Gumball asked. "Yep, I'm finished, but are you alright? you look like you've just seen a ghost." This time, Gumball turned to face his brother and said, "Yeah. I guess you could also say I saw a balloon, banana, a piece of toast, blue rainbow-haired girl, antlered cheerleader **and** a ghost to be more accurate." he finished, catching his breath.  
"Rachel's down there?" "No, Joe, Anton, Axel-" "Alan." Darwin interjected. "Penny, Carrie, **and **Rachel are downstairs, Darwin!" His brother looked at him with a confused expression on his face and said: "I don't see what you're so worried about. So what it's six other people? The bright side is that it's _only_ six other people. We can still have fun!"  
"Speaking of other people, have you seen dad? Or anais for that matter?" Gumball asked.

"No, not really. But I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," This wiped the tension off of Gumball's face a bit. "So, you only saw six? no one else?" Darwin asked. "Yeah, or that was all I could see over the banister."  
"Alright, then!" he exclaimed. "I'm gonna finish getting ready and pack some stuff for the trip." Gumball turned away and entered the bathroom.

**7:46 P.M.**

Darwin and Gumball have long finished packing and preparing for the trip and still don't know what to do for the next fourteen minutes. "Darwin, I don't think we should go down there," Gumball said. "I mean, why not just wait 'till-"  
"Gumball! Darwin! Come down here!" Nicole yelled from the bottom of the staircase. "She calls us down there..."  
"Coming!" Exclaimed Darwin as he and Gumball began to walk down the stair case to their awaiting mother. When they reached the bottom, Nicole said: "I want you two to go get something to eat before we leave, after all, we don't have much time for food stops along the way."  
"Where are we going anyway?"Gumball asked with a quizzical look. "Just go into the kitchen and eat something. you don't want to keep your friends waiting, do you?" Gumball and Darwin did as instructed, gingerly waving at everyone else as they passed into the kitchen, Gumball trying to remain ever confident in front of penny, to be greeted with a faint slurp.

"Oh. It's you two." The duo turned around to see Jamie, Drinking a soda and leaning against the wall. "Oh, it's you two," Gumball said with a mocking tone. "What did you expect? It's our house, Jamie." she just shrugged and continued on with her drink, not bothering to face either of them. Then there was a bit of a pause before Gumball whispered "By now, I would have expected her to be beating us up." He must not have whispered low enough for Jamie not to hear him, because after about a second, she turned. "Listen, I have _**NO IDEA**_ why, Gumball," She whispered sarcastically. "but for SOME reason, I get the impression that something like that wouldn't end well for anyone, now would it?" she stated, tilting her head towards the living room where Nicole was.  
Gumball didn't respond and simply gathered ingredients for a sandwich before he realized something more important he should have asked in the first place. "Why did you even agree to go? I mean, Don't you hate us and all?" he asked. "Why would I willingly agree to Go Camping in the woods? Why would I willingly agree to go camping in the woods with _you _two for that matter."  
"Hmph. Then why are you here, then?" "Don't you have food to eat, Gumball? You don't want to keep Penny waiting, do you? The sooner we leave, the sooner we get back." Jamie said, taking another sip. Darwin had already finished making a sandwich for the both of them as he motioned to exit into the backyard and Gumball followed suit ignoring the glare Jamie gave him on the way out.

**A/N: I Know this Chapter came out SUPER late, but with school and other things, I don't have time to write these chapters.**


	4. Chapter 4: Them

**Chapter 4: Guess that's them**

Gumball and Darwin sat on the back yard porch, faces covered in the golden-orange glow of the sunset. "Gumball," Darwin started after taking a bite of his sandwich "Yeah?" "Do you think it's a good idea for all of these people to join? when she told us we would be camping, I thought we would be going as a family, just us." Gumball took a quick look of surprise towards his brother before saying "I didn't know you'd be so upset about this! Usually you would be happy to have family and friends around you; well, with without of Jamie that is."

"Sure, of course I do, but... well, I'm not sure." Gumball's face started to show an expression of worry at this statement. "You OK, Buddy? You don't seem like yourself today. Is it because Dad and Anais aren't here, isn't it?" asked Gumball. "Speaking of which, where are they?" Darwin asked after gulping down a bite. "Now that you mention it, I think he said something this morning about a van or something. Too bad we slept all day, huh?" "That reminds me," Gumball continued. "Why are we camping when we only have one day of the weekend left?" It was hard for even Darwin not to face-palm himself, though he resisted the urge and simply stated: "We do have Thanksgiving break, remember? a whole week off school!"

"Huh. You'd think I of all people would remember that." "Yeah, You would, what with tons of food and no school," Jamie said, instantly grabbing the attention of a startled Gumball and Darwin. "Jamie! Swiss cheese and rice paper, you scared the heck outta me!" "Good, 'cause I-" Jamie was cut off by a sudden loud "HONK!" from the from the front yard. "Guess that's them!" Darwin exclaimed running past Jamie and towards the front yard sidewalk.  
Gumball finished his sandwich and went back into the house past Jamie. And either he was crazy or he caught the slightest melancholic sigh from her, and as he turned around,she faced the sunset disabling him from seeing her face.

Until she began to enter the kitchen. then, she barely had an expression at all, just an uninterested bored look on her face that actually surprised Gumball. she wouldn't spare a passing glance at a single person as she grabbed her green and white bag and walked out to the lawn with everyone else. "My, my, Richard! You actually found it huh?" Nicole asked her pink lagomorph husband. "Well, I had a little help," he started, then swiftly took a quick glance to wink at his darling genius daughter, Anais. "But this twelve seat bad-boy is exactly what we need to get to the campsite!" A few 'wow's and 'ooh's came from the small gathered crowd. Under instruction, everyone gathered in the back seats of the vehicle behemoth. As Gumball got into the very very back with his brother Darwin and Alan, and Nicole reignited the engine, the wheels began to roll on there way. "Get comfortable," Nicole started. "This is gonna be a long ride."

Several minutes later, Gumball slumped in his seat and grew noticeably more and more upset with each passing Alan had noticed and decided to at least say something. "Gumball," He said, trying to grab his attention, and Gumball quickly straightened himself and looked. "I can tell you don't wanna go on this trip, but lighten up! After all, it should only be a few days." He said calmly. "I don't see what you're so happy about! In fact, I expected you to stay home, what with all the prickly sharp things you can pop on!" The sweater-clad cat quietly said. "...Thanks, that's comforting..." Darwin didn't dare interject as he was captivated by buildings and soon, trees flying past.  
Joe turned and faced the back seat and said "Don't be such a downer, Gumball, It's gonna be fun, just you wait and see!" Several few-and-far-between yawns could be heard from one of the passengers, specifically, Rachel, stretching arms and legs trying to get comfortable. "YAWN! Hmm, I didn't get any sleep before coming... Hey," She directed at Carrie. "Hmm?" "Wake me up in a couple hours..." "Sure, whatever." Carrie blandly agreed.

Twenty to thirty minutes passed, and not anyone had said a word. Nothing, just the hum of the van and rumble of the road, that is until someone decided to break the silence, and that someone was Darwin as he stared out the window. "Did anyone else hear a loud burst a few seconds ago?" "Yeah, that's weird. Alan's right here isn't he?" Jamie said as the car started to roll slower and slower until an inevitable stop.

Richard and Nicole exited the vehicle and took a deep breath of the clean countryside air. "Richard, check the tires on that side and see if we've got a flat tire," she said across the car's length. he crouched down and took a hard look at both of the tires. "Honey!" Richard yelled. "You might wanna see this." When he said this, Nicole started to worry and rushed over to the other side to see a tire completely missing! "What?!" She gasped. The area that the tire once sat was a whirl of smoke and ash. And a strong smell of burning rubber.


	5. Chapter 5: Fun

Chapter 5: "Fun"

"That's a big problem right there. We must have driven for for at least two hours," Richard started. "And the closest auto shop must be at least thirty minutes." Nicole signaled for everyone to get out of the van while dialing the phone number of the store.  
"...Hello? Yes... yeah... No, more like disintegrated... Yeah... no, yeah... alright..." "So?" he asked. Nicole put the phone away and let out a sigh, half of irritation, half of relief, and said "They'll be here in twenty minutes with a new tire, and in the mean time, I'm not to sure what to do, so just... let me collect my thoughts for a second." " What's the big deal? It's just a tire, right?"  
"No, Richard, it's not the tire, it's the schedule I was trying to keep. Now we have to cut out hiking and-"  
Everyone must have heard this because everyone gathered in the nearby field grew in exited cheers! Even Richard!"  
"Let me finish... We'll have to cut out Hiking _and_ marshmallow roasting tomorrow.  
Following after was a loud unison of "Nooooo!"s, including Rachel, either awake (And just pretending to sleep) or having some sort of dream.

"So... What do we do for the next eight-teen minutes and 32, 31, 30 seconds?" Inquired Alan. "I'm not sure, but with night time present we can't do much." Carrie replied. And she was right. with the issue of the tire, no one even realized how much time had passed, or at least hadn't noticed the sun's decent and unveiling of night stars.  
"Brr... I forget just how cold it gets at night." Penny noticed. In fact, most were shivering, just not noticing it.

Gumball was the only one without such affliction, and seeing other people in the cold like this made him feel feel bad, dreadful even. He couldn't offer his sweater to Penny because he would be too embarrassed; He did actually have anything else underneath!"Kids, Get back in the car until they arrive. It's freezing out here!" Nicole objected, and it was that objection that saved Gumball from looking like a jerk, even if it wasn't his fault.

Minutes and minutes passed until the crew arrived, and when they did, it took even longer for repairs. "awright, 'at should fix it," said the mechanic with his heavy British accent. "Thank you Mr. umm..." Nicole sighed. "You can call me Simon. Well, 'ave a nice night an' travel safely!" He said cheerfully. "Yes, thank you _Simon,_" She turned toward Richard in the passenger seat. "I'm too tired to drive anymore tonight. we might have to-" But everyone was far ahead of her, snoozing away in their seats. "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." She said climbing into her seat and drifting off.

Some time had passed as everyone slept in the dark. everyone slept soundly except for Gumball, whom frantically tossed and turned in his seat. He would talk to himself in his sleep at times saying 'No... I'm not gonna... Why me?..." Some dream he must have. If it wasn't the dream that caused him to wake up suddenly, who knows what could have done it? "Ung... W-what... Oh, I'm awake..." Because it was so late he expected to be able to fall asleep again soon, but what he didn't expect was a response. "Hey, are you stupid? Never mind, I already know the answer to that." He heard. "Jamie? why are you awake?" "Same as you, I can't sleep. But I'm in no rush to get back to sleep either, so I decided to just sit here and let my mind wander." Gumball showed an obvious expression of confusion, even though he knew no one could see. "Wander? On what?" asked Gumball

"None of your business! And keep it down. Unlike you and me, others are trying to sleep." Hearing this, however, gave Gumball an idea. If he was going to ask, now would be a good time as any, since everyone _was_ asleep.  
"hmm... Jamie,"  
"Yeah? Make it quick, hearing you makes me want to go back to sleep."  
"What did we, Darwin and I, do to make you hate us? I don't think it's even remotely fair, What you do to us!" This was something that had taken her by surprise, because she hadn't expected something like this, especially from Gumball.

A long, undying silence flowed between them like water. While gumball held his breath (Unknowingly of course,) Jamie was thinking of what to say, and even how to say it, but she honestly didn't know. After so long, she honestly gave less and less thought about why, and just enjoyed it more and more, so she figured there would only be easy explanation.  
"Well? are you going to answer me, or just pretend to be asleep?" He asked impatiently.

"I guess it's just fun." Jamie admitted, closing her eyes and attempting to fall asleep.

**Ever so sorry for the delay, however, the resolution of my problem has been reached and now I can Finally continue with my Belated story!**


End file.
